xlobby and little short of home theater niravana

[hjackson]

Musicthebee, I really doubt that my PPC Ipaq is more powerful than your Simpad and laptop, so we need to keep looking at your setup.
Did you actually load a 800x600 resolution client skin in the server's "skins" folder or did you just change the resolution options in the "servers" text file on the Simpad?
I believe you are still forcing Xlobby to make skin resolution conversions if you are not running the skins at your PC's native resolutions. If you did change all 3 PC video display settings to 800x600 and then used the 800x600 HeavyMetal skin in the server and the clients, then it may be your network.

hjackson

[BaddaBing]

I can tell you that there is no 'native' 800x600 HeavyMetal Skin. The skin has a native resolution of 1024x768. That is the size of the backgrounds as well, so unless MusicB has totally reworked it, then - yes - Xlobby is being forced to resize the skins in order to display them on an 8x6 simpad.

[hjackson]

Yes Baddabing, that is EXACTLY my point. Your skin is 1024x768, so unless he reconfigured it, Xlobby is still using up memory to resize everything!

hjackson

[musicthebee]

Thanks guys for the replies. I was totally in the wrong direction. Now I am gonna get hold of a skin that has a native resolution of 800x600 and post back my results...

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it...

[hjackson]

No Musicthebee, just reconfigure HeavyMetal.
Reset your laptop's video resolution to 800x600. Load Xlobby on the laptop. Enter the Xlobby setup and go to the skins section. Select the 800x600 preset then click save. Xlobby will reconfigure the skin to 800x600 then restart. You can now play around with the skin's screens to make sure everything is sized and placed where you want it. Add a short prefix to all the screen names to distinguish the 800x600 screens from the server's 940x540 screens (ie change menu to Smenu [S is for Simpad!]) Transfer these new Simpad 800x600 client screens over to your server's HeavyMetal skin folder.
You will now have 2 unique client screens in your HM skin folder: one with the ppc prefix and one with the S prefix. Ofcourse, your server screens will have been configured for 960x540.
You will next need to add new goto commands in the event manager (ie. "goto Smenu") or else your client will goto the server screens instead of the Simpad screens. Make sure the startup screen in your Simpad "servers" text file is for "Smenu" not "menu".
Don't forget to change back the display settings on your laptop to 1024x768 when you are done! You can now use the same process to customize client skins for your laptop client screens (ie. Lmenu) in the 1024x768 resolution. Transfer these screens over to your server and you will now have 3 distinct client screens.
Have at it!

hjackson

[musicthebee]

Thanks hjackson. Will try that and post back my results...

[musicthebee]

I get around 5-6 sec delay with Jowaldo skin configured for 800x600. The skin is pre-configured for 800x600 and I used it according to hjackson's instructions.

Should I just dump this simpad off? Do you guys think Dell axim x50v is better? What kind of response times are people getting for axim pocket pc?

Thanks

[Naylia]

I have the old Dell Axim X5 and am using wireless B for both server and ppc.

Usually a 1 second delay sometimes a little faster occasionally a particular change can take a couple seconds. I'll clock it precisely tonight and let you know what I get for timings.

[Naylia]

Ok, here's my test results. Now there is probably some delay between an action happening and me pushing the button on my stop watch.

-Skin used: Jowaldo v3 with some minor mods
-Times tended to get faster on multiple loads of the same screen so below times lean towards first attempt to load a screen.
-Wireless connections were solid. I would expect to see slightly slower times if I had a less than perfect signal.

Server
Connection: WiFi-B 11 Mbps
Display: 800x600

PC - Athlon XP 1600+ 256 MB Ram WinXP Pro
Connection: Wired Lan
Display: 320x240 window

Dell Axim X5
Connection: WiFi-B 11 Mbps
Display 320x240


Tests from PC:
Load Client: 2.2s
With music already loaded in WinAmp going from stopped to playing: 0.8s
With music playing time to stop: 0.2s
Go from main menu to music screen: 1.0s
Back to main menu: 0.8s
Go from main menu to music screen: 0.8s

Tests from Dell Axim X5
Load Client: 5.2s
With music already loaded in WinAmp going from stopped to playing: 1.0s
With music playing time to stop: 0.2s
Go from main menu to music screen: 2.0s
Back to main menu: 1.0s
Go from main menu to music screen: 2.0s

So there's my scientific analysis for you. I find my dell to be quite a nice little remote and the waits are short enough that even my mom doesn't try to press buttons multiple times (at least not very often).

[musicthebee]

Thanks Naylia for the detailed results. I just ordered an axim 50v. Will post back my results... My simpad is off to ebay

Thanks

[Naylia]

Thats a hot looking handheld. Mine's the original 400 Mhz model, but I don't think the extra 224 MHz is going to hurt you.